This is the text of the email sent by Ryan Dashner to principals of Indiana schools:
Dear Washington Principals, Below you will find a letter that I sent out to all of the public and private Indiana schools. The Washington Times Herald is running an article about the project in today’s newspaper, so I thought that now would be a good time to send this email out to you. The project has been quite successful so far, and I hope that some Washington teachers will also be interested in participating. Please read the email and forward it to your teachers if possible. Thank you in advance for your assistance, Ryan Dashner Peace Corps Volunteer, Namibia Dear Fellow Educators,
Hello my name is Ryan Dashner. I am a former 5th Grade teacher at Washington Community
Schools, in Washington, IN. Currently I am a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Mariental, Namibia (in southern Africa). One of the projects that I am now trying to focus on is bringing quality children's books to the local library here in Mariental. The Mariental Public Library currently has a very limited selection of children's books and a surplus of children that visit the library after school. When I visit the library in the afternoons I usually find many children sifting through the few books that they have, looking for something that they have not yet read.
My proposal is to have your class in the U.S. purchase a $50.00 flat rate box from the U.S. Post Office, fill the box with books that they collect from their homes and their community, and send it to me in Namibia. I will then in turn, deliver the books to the local library, assist them with shelving the books, and take a picture of students reading the books, to be emailed with a thank you letter to your class.
I feel that this would be a great project for your class to get involved with and if you are interested I would love to email with your class, sharing information about the people, culture, and schools of Namibia. By participating in this project with me, your class will be helping promote literacy to the more than 3,000 local children in Mariental (most of who have never owned a book and many that do not attend school).
If you and your class are interested in getting involved with this project please contact me stating your interest and with any questions that you might have. Below I have attached more direct instructions, on how the project will work.
This is the text of the email sent by Ryan Dashner to principals of Indiana schools:
Dear Washington Principals,
Below you will find a letter that I sent out to all of the public and private Indiana schools. The Washington Times Herald is running an article about the project in today’s newspaper, so I thought that now would be a good time to send this email out to you. The project has been quite successful so far, and I hope that some Washington teachers will also be interested in participating. Please read the email and forward it to your teachers if possible.
Thank you in advance for your assistance,
Ryan Dashner Peace Corps Volunteer, Namibia
Dear Fellow Educators,
Hello my name is Ryan Dashner. I am a former 5th Grade teacher at Washington Community
Schools, in Washington, IN. Currently I am a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Mariental, Namibia (in southern Africa). One of the projects that I am now trying to focus on is bringing quality children's books to the local library here in Mariental. The Mariental Public Library currently has a very limited selection of children's books and a surplus of children that visit the library after school. When I visit the library in the afternoons I usually find many children sifting through the few books that they have, looking for something that they have not yet read.
My proposal is to have your class in the U.S. purchase a $50.00 flat rate box from the U.S. Post Office, fill the box with books that they collect from their homes and their community, and send it to me in Namibia. I will then in turn, deliver the books to the local library, assist them with shelving the books, and take a picture of students reading the books, to be emailed with a thank you letter to your class.
I feel that this would be a great project for your class to get involved with and if you are interested I would love to email with your class, sharing information about the people, culture, and schools of Namibia. By participating in this project with me, your class will be helping promote literacy to the more than 3,000 local children in Mariental (most of who have never owned a book and many that do not attend school).
If you and your class are interested in getting involved with this project please contact me stating your interest and with any questions that you might have. Below I have attached more direct instructions, on how the project will work.
Yours in education,
Ryan Dashner
U.S. Peace Corps
Mariental, Namibia